Jane Eyre Quotes + Analysis

Jane: “A heart saddened by the chidings of Bessie, the nurse, humbled by the consciousness of my physical inferiority to Eliza, John and Georgiana Reed”

=> reveals Jane’s low self-esteem as a child and how neglected and emotionally isolated she feels

=> reveals the social hierarchy in the Reed household

John Reed: “You are a dependent […] you ought to beg”

=> his language reflects the rigid class and gender hierarchies of Victorian society which placed orphaned girls as inferior to families of the higher classes => Jane expected to be grateful for her protection

“I had no appeal whatever against either his menaces or his inflictions; the servants did not like to offend their young master by taking my part against his”

Mrs Fairfax: “Gentlemen in his station are not accustomed to marry their governesses”

=> reflects the strict class hierarchy that prevented women from forming equal relationships with wealthy men

Jane: describes herself as a “portrait of a governess, disconnected, poor and plain”

=> suggests she has internalised society’s belief that governesses should be modest, invisible and undesirable

Rochester: “I enjoy the sense of pliancy you impart”

=> implies that Rochester finds pleasure in his view of Jane as flexible and willing to bend to his wishes, reflecting his desire for influence and control within the relationship

St. John: “God and nature intended you for a missionary’s wife […] you are formed for labour, not love”

=> reveals how St. John treats Jane like an instrument for his religious work rather than as an equal partner with equal rights

=> by claiming that it is in Jane’s “nature” to become a submissive wife, he reduces her feelings, aspirations and personal happiness

=> aligns with the views of broader society which saw it as a wife’s duty to be subordinate to and serve her husband, in this case with his ambitions and moral projects

St. John: “You will be limited forever to a track of selfish ease and barren obscurity” (if she refuses him)

=> reveals that he is not virtuous towards her and that he uses religion merely to make her feel guilty and pressure her into marriage

Jane: “Jewels for Jane Eyre feel unnatural and strange”

=> Rochester tries to mould her into his ideal wife by showering her with luxurious jewels and clothes

=> her discomfort reflects Victorian expectations that women should become decorative possessions within marriage, shaped by their husband’s wealth and status rather than maintaining independent identities

Rochester: “Little tyrant” “A capricious witch”

=> reveals his frustration at Jane’s refusal to submit completely to male authority

Jane: “‘Wicked and cruel boy!’ I said. ‘You are like a murderer - you are like a slave driver - you are like the Roman emperors!’ I had read Goldsmith’s ‘History of Rome’, and had formed my opinion of Nero, Caligula, etc. Also I had drawn parallels in silence, which I never thought thus to have declared aloud".”

=> Jane’s willingness to confront John demonstrates a strong sense of self-worth and refusal to accept male authority simply because of his gender + social status

=> her references to Roman history reveal her intellectual confidence, showing she uses education to question and criticise systems of power

=> subverts the expectation for women to remain obedient, silent and submissive to male relatives

Jane is “borne upstairs” to the Red Room

=> phrase emphasises her lack of power and control

=> red room symbolic of the confinement imposed on women who refused to be passive or who expressed strong emotions

=> in a society which promoted obedience and submission to male authority, those who displayed anger or resistance were viewed as improper and threatening

=> therefore, Jane's imprisonment demonstrates how patriarchal family structures punish female defiance

Brocklehurst: "black pillar" "straight and narrow"

=> symbolic perhaps of his cruel, intimidating and strict moral views regarding the role of women in society as being one of passivity and submission

Brocklehurst: "Why in defiance of every precept and principle of this house, does she conform to the world so openly - here in an evangelical, charitable establishment - as to wear her hair one mass of curls?"

=> Exercises control over female bodies

=> here, the readers are given an insight into his obsession with plain dress and presentation, highlighting how women were expected to be modest and not draw attention to themselves

=> therefore, by enforcing uniformity, Brocklehurst upholds the belief that women should be visually and socially constrained, emphasising their perceived role in society

Brocklehurst: Preaches in the name of "Christian duties" yet does nothing about the "famished" state of the girls who have barely enough food to keep a "delicate invalid alive"

=> reveals Brocklehurst to be a domineering male character of hypocritical religious views

=> A contemporary readership would have been familiar with the biblical message to "love your neighbour as you love yourself", thereby revealing how his neglectful behaviour towards the orphans acts as a defiant act against scripture

Brocklehurst: "My dear children […] it becomes my duty to warn you that this girl, who might be one of God's own lambs, is a little castaway"

=> reinforcement of public humiliation (when he orders Jane to stand on chair to repent for her sins) is emblematic of how hypocritical and cruel he is in his misreading of scripture

"They must be kept in a state of privation"

 => reflects G&G's argument that "Orphan girls are starved or frozen into proper Christian submission"

"From the day she left I was no longer the same with her was gone every settled feeling, every association that had made Lowood some degree a home to me"

=> serves as a balance to Mr Brocklehurst in providing a moral refuge to Jane

=> The names of Bronte’s female characters also draw a direct comparison to John Bunyan’s allegory, ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’, a text in which the characters' names are reflective of their characteristics and role in the story. In this case, Miss Temple’s name arguably symbolises her nurturing and supportive role within the relationship and simultaneously presents her as a moral refuge for Jane. Not only this, but this symbolism also reinforces the subversive nature of her bond with Jane, as rather than embodying religious authority in the punitive way that Brocklehurst does (in his Evangelically-justified cruelty towards the students at Lowood), she redefines it through compassion and justice.

Jane: "as much soul" and "full as much heart" as Rochester

=> Jane consistently asserts her moral and spiritual equality as a woman

Jane:  “It is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood and God’s feet, equal-as we are!”

 => very passionate about maintaining her sense of independence and identity

Helen: "It is far better to endure patiently a smart which nobody feels but yourself, than to commit a hasty action whose evil consequences will extend to all connected with you"

=> Helen as a moral foil to Jane => embodies evangelical Christianity as she believes that earthly suffering is insignificant compared to the spiritual reward awaiting the righteous

=> her philosophy is one of total submission to authority, suffering and injustice

=> represents the internalisation of the pressure to submit - she has absorbed Brocklehurst's cruelty, starvation and punishments into her own belief system

"For I must see Helen - I must embrace her before she died - I must give her one last kiss, exchange with her one last word"

=> at this point, Helen has become the closest thing Jane has to a loving family member, providing the affection, understanding and companionship absent from her relationships at Gateshead and Lowood

=> sense of familial attachment reinforced by the autobiographical parallels behind her character (based on Charlotte Bronte's sister Maria who died from tuberculosis at age 11. Similarly to Helen and Jane, they attended the harsh Clergy Daughter's School at Cowan Bridge were poor sanitation and abusive conditions contributed to illness and suffering)

=> by drawing on this personal loss, Bronte presents Helen not merely as a friend but as a sisterly figure whose death leaves Jane bereaved in a way that resembles the loss of family